


interlude

by brickmaster



Series: A beautiful stone that glistens in the sun. It has little value. [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Re:Mind Spoilers, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brickmaster/pseuds/brickmaster
Summary: His eyes are warm, gentle like the slight curve of his mouth and there’s a sharp ringing in Sora’s ears. His hand shoots to his jacket pocket to fumble it’s way inside and he curls his sore fingers around the collection of pretty stones there.Riku
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: A beautiful stone that glistens in the sun. It has little value. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627525
Comments: 13
Kudos: 78





	interlude

**Author's Note:**

> A very short interlude following the previous story in the series and preceding whatever kh has in store next :)
> 
> Spoiler warning for Re:mind, Limit Cut Episode specifically.

Sora gasps for breath, the air thin and sharp in his lungs but the next inhale is just as greedy because it’s proof that he’s survived the fight. One more fight in a long line of many. His legs tremble with exhaustion, muscles tight and cramping painfully from rolling and running away. Every strike he evaded still feels like a direct hit in the aftermath. His bones ache sharply from the jarring impact of an improper somersault or a miscalculated landing and a bevy of scrapes and blossoming bruises line the length of his forearms. His wrist protests the action but he curls his hand into a fist at his side anyway, readies himself for the next bout and hopes and _wishes_ that he has enough energy to outlast it. 

The young man, Yozora, stands a dozen or so feet away and takes a few steady steps forward. Sora’s pulse thrums in his ears and he rolls onto the balls of his feet, ready to move at the first glimpse of that crossbow. 

This entire encounter has left Sora unbalanced, knocked sideways and completely unmoored. This is their _first_ encounter but it doesn’t feel like it. There’s a familiarity in the way Yozora moves, the way he talks, which lulls something inside Sora into a measure of complacency that’s _dangerous_. He’s had to repeatedly kickstart his instincts to see Yozora as a threat and it’s left him reeling.

Nothing about this situation makes sense and the world Yozora has brought him to - conjured? - is no different. 

On the surface it doesn't seem all that different from San Fransokyo or the World That Never Was but everything about this place is too bright, too artificial in the way it seems to glow. Neon signs and street lights reflect off rain streaked glass and nearly drown out the stars. Yozora is bright here, too; his pale skin and hair catch the light and throw it back out into the world. Even when he was striking and shooting at Sora, a blur of furious motion, he seemed to be haloed by light. 

Sora doesn’t know what any of this means and he’s so _tired_. 

His shoulders shake through the next exhale and Yozora finally slows to a stop a short distance away. He watches Sora carefully for a moment, enough to make the back of Sora’s neck prickle, before glancing down at his side. Yozora holds up his left hand, rotates his wrist and watches nonchalantly as his fingers begin to disintegrate into bright blue particles of light. 

Sora gasps, already reaching towards him before he remembers himself and keeps his distance, eyes darting between Yozora’s impassive face and the light streaming upwards from what used to be his forearm.

“I guess… my powers aren’t needed yet.” Yozora’s voice is low, unbothered as he drops what’s left back down to his side. His entire body is washed in light now, a beacon in the faded night, and Sora’s beyond confused as Yozora simply stares intently at him. 

“What do you mean?” Sora says and despite his better judgement, he can’t help but take a few steps towards his opponent. It doesn’t matter that they just had their blades locked, Yozora was fading away and he didn’t seem to care one way or another about it. It wasn’t right. 

_Not so different from what you did though, is it?_

It’s a niggling thought and Sora shakes his head to banish it. No, given the chance Sora would choose to go _home_ in a heartbeat. There’s no true passage of time in the Final World but he spends whatever passes for days walking aimlessly with a stone clutched in his hand and a heart full of wishes to see his friends and family again, to see _Riku_. 

They have so much to talk about. 

Sora will make sure they get the chance no matter what. 

Yozora glances down at the roof briefly, eyes almost closed, and it’s probably because he’s on Sora’s mind but for a _moment_ he looks like- 

“Nevermind,” Yozora says softly, red and blue eyes shining from the light eclipsing his body. Sora’s brows dip, a little frown tugging the corners of his mouth and he’s about to argue when Yozora’s face shifts. 

His eyes are warm, gentle like the slight curve of his mouth and there’s a sharp ringing in Sora’s ears. His hand shoots to his jacket pocket to fumble it’s way inside and he curls his sore fingers around the collection of pretty stones there. 

_Riku_

He doesn’t know what it means but something about Yozora is connected to Riku, he can feel it. It’s because of this that he smiles back, just slightly, until Yozora disappears completely. 

With the next blink, Sora is back in the Final World. He squeezes his eyes shut tightly against the onslaught of sunlight after so much darkness and his grip is nearly painful around the stones. He peeks his eyes open a sliver and slowly adjusts to the influx of light by peering his own reflection in the water at his feet.

This view is just as painful. 

He looks exhausted. Bright red scrapes and lurid bruises across his arms from dodging and blocking with his keyblade but when more often than not with his body. His heart thumps sluggishly and he’s tired, exhaustion blanketing every inch of his body but amidst all the hurt is his crown necklace. It’s an ever present, comforting weight against his chest and it shines as brightly as ever. 

Sora steps forward once, twice, on trembling legs. There are people waiting for him, fighting to bring him home. He knows it. 

The stones are warm in his palm.

An ember of hope sparks in his chest and he continues forward to explore the seemingly unending horizon on shaky legs. His steps are just beginning to steady when he sees something a few feet away where Yozora once stood. 

Sora approaches it warily, half expecting Yozora to materialize out of nowhere to finish him off, and crouches to get a closer look. It’s small and nearly blends in with this world and Sora can hardly believe he noticed it all. It’s an oval stone, nearly identical in color to the pale blue, sparsely clouded sky mirrored above and below him. 

Sora’s fingers tremble as he reaches for it, half expecting it to be a trick and for his hand to close around nothing but water. To his pleasant surprise, he can feel the cool weight of the stone in his grasp and he rotates his hand palm up and unfurls his fingers. It’s pretty and it’s just as foreign to this world as Sora is. 

Nameless stars confined to this place by the remnants of memory and will have crossed his path but in all his time in this place he’s _never_ come across something like this. Looking down at the stone in his palm, his heart beats a familiar rhythm. 

He’s not sure who Yozora is but there’s something achingly familiar about him and he’s the first lead he’s found on escaping this place. Taking a deep breath, Sora tilts his head upwards and into the sun. If Yozora was able to come to this world, and presumably leave it, then so could he. 

\---

Riku eyes flutter open before clenching tightly shut. 

The early morning darkness lingers in the quarters of Merlin’s house which he uses whenever he visits Radiant Garden. The room is cramped, cluttered up to the ceiling in trinkets and bits and bobs but the twin bed he’s spent a year sporadically crashing on is more than enough for his needs. 

He can hear the ever present bubbling of the fountains outside his window and he lets out a sigh as he pulls his arm out from where it’s wedged beneath his pillow. His fingers are stiff but he coaxes them open and rolls a stone upwards across his palm to pinch between his forefinger and thumb. 

It's a small oval stone, pale blue in color normally but darker in appearance in the low light of his room. He holds it up to the window and watches the light catch on it’s smooth surface, highlighting the small flecks of white intermingling with the blue. It’s pretty and it’s useless. 

No matter how much wishful thinking he indulges in it’s just _that_ at the end of the day - wishful. 

Night by night it’s the same. The same dream, the same tug in his chest that pulls him under more quickly than anything he’s ever experienced, to wander that strange city in search of Sora. Day by day it’s the same crushing disappointment upon waking to a world without him. 

Nevertheless, he can’t seem to part with the stone and only relinquishes his steady hold when he gets ready for the day, immediately scooping it up once more and tucking it into his jacket pocket as he makes his way to leave. 

As he reaches for the doorknob there’s a knock and Riku swings the door open to Yuffie who grins up at him, fist still raised in the air. 

“Good morning, Yuffie.” His voice is still scratchy from sleep and he quietly clears his throat as to not be rude, “Did you need something?”

“Hey! Good morning! You need to come with me _right now_ ,” Yuffie says loudly, grabbing his wrist and tugging him out of the room and down the narrow hallway. Riku stumbles after her, shoulders bouncing off the walls as he tries to keep up with her frenetic pace. 

_“Yuf-”_

She cuts him off, turning corners sharply and just barely managing to not pull Riku into their edges.

“Cid has something he wants to talk to you about! It sounds like a pretty good lead on Sora!”

There’s an immediate weight that comes crashing down around him at her words. There had been many “good leads” in the past year. Hearts and memories were being searched, every nook and cranny of the galaxy sifted through, and all of their efforts had amounted to _nothing_.

Riku’s arm goes slack in her grip. 

She pulls him through the twisting hallways of Merlin’s house, down a small staircase, and through an archway leading to the main room where Leon, Cid, and Aerith are clustered around the massive computer against the far wall. Yuffie releases his wrist and bounds over to the others and Riku pauses in the threshold for a moment to collect himself before joining them too. 

He takes a deep breath, counts to ten, and releases. He repeats this several times and wills the weight around his heart to lift just enough to be able to reassure the others when this “good lead” results in disappointment and they’re back at square one. 

Aerith calls his name softly and Riku finally makes his way over to join them. As they talk, his hand ghosts over the slight bump of the stone in his pocket. 

_I believe in you, Sora._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Come talk soriku with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/brickmaster_p)!
> 
> The meaning of this stone:
> 
> Angelite - Angelite is so named because of its use in communicating with angels and spirit guides. It helps you receive messages and if you give spiritual guidance, angelite can help you tune in and receive clear information.
> 
> [This is](https://beadage.net/gemstones/) the resource I used for the gemstone meaning so please forgive me if it's wrong!


End file.
